Sunday, May 18, 2014

Modi’s Win in India - An Analysis

The Indian people have spoken and have elected Narendra Modi
resoundingly as their man to lead their impoverished but promising nation of
some 1.25 billion people. Modi has been described by many as a ruthless murderer,
a fascist, a racist and a bigot, espousing a chauvinist agenda that favor one
community, i.e., Hindus, over others in this caste-ridden nation of many
creeds. His supporters, on the other hand, see him as a Hitler-like avatar that
could work miracles, delivering results that would reposition India in the
global arena as a power broker.

Anxieties are high on all sides. Can Modi, revered by so
many and also hated by so many, deliver the promises he has made? Will he carry
out his threats? Can he deliver economic miracles? Or, will he marginalize
non-Hindus, who despise him? Will his agenda lead to further escalation of
regional tension?

There is no doubt that India needed a change. Indians were
tired of the dynastic rule from the Nehru family that has ruled India for much
of her history since she won independence in August 15, 1947. Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh of the ruling Congress had become a political fossil that did neither
inspire nor engage the party cadre, much less general public, and knew that his
time has run out and that the mantle of leadership had to be passed on to
someone new and younger, possibly a hypnotic and charismatic figure.

But Rahul Gandhi, the grandson of Indira Gandhi and the son
of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, surely, was not the person who could gravitate
people to the Congress cause. He appeared too upper-class, European/non-Indian looking
and out of touch, as if not belonging, in spite of his occasional use of dhuti
in the election rallies. With a Catholic mother, albeit Sari-clad, and an
electorate that has increasingly come to identify itself along narrow religious
lines, Rahul Gandhi appeared naïve and unfit, and was no match against a
veteran politician like Narendra Modi who symbolized Hinduism, or more
properly, Hindutva.

Too many things have gone wrong during the Congress rule of
India. The economy has been suffering miserably and growing at an anemic rate,
inflation has been steadily rising, and the unemployment rate has been steeply
climbing forcing some half a million Indians to work illegally inside
Bangladesh. And to this list, add the endemic corruption that has multiplied
several folds and a bureaucracy that is one of the least efficient and highly
corrupt in our world.

In the midst of all such crises, the Indian voters were
looking for a prudent leader who not only looked like them and had an ordinary
upbringing, but could also revive their economy by bringing in jobs that
mattered most. The Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi seemed to fit that
expectation quite well. He is a commoner who served as a tea hawker in his
childhood years in a railway station; his mother worked as a servant in other
people’s homes. As a teenager he got attracted to the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS, the Hindutvadi
platform, which was to shape his life.

Modi formally joined the BJP in the mid-1980s, and
participated in its meetings, rising gradually from a field worker to a regional
leader. In 1995 he became the BJP's
national secretary and, three years later, became the general secretary. He
held the post until October 2001 when he was chosen to be the chief minister of
Gujarat. He got reelected twice.

Last year in May, Modi was
appointed the head of the BJP's election management committee. Within months, he
was declared the BJP's prime ministerial aspirant. He made good governance and
development the main focus of his campaign, deriding Gandhi as a
"princeling" who had little concept of the aspirations of more than
half a billion Indians, living below the poverty line. During
the election campaigns, he traveled far and wide and sounded serious and
credible, while the ruling party ran a lackluster campaign. He was highly
organized and had a plan, while the ruling party seemed to have none. He also sold
hope while the ruling party ran out of ideas to excite and motivate the Indian
electorate. He enjoyed endorsement from Indian billionaires whose business
enterprises had hitherto benefitted from the concessions enjoyed at Gujarat.

So, what was long known and expected by political pundits has
now become a reality. The BJP and its leader Modi won big and are expected to run
India for the next five years. His election win, however, comes with a high
price. He has long been a very polarizing politician who has been accused of
culpability for the Gujarat massacre of some two thousand Muslims. He
represents a Hindu supremacist (i.e., fascist) party that promotes the
absurd idea that India is for Hindus only, and that other minorities must
either pack up and leave or conform to Hindu supremacy.

While many Hindus celebrate his win, the non-Hindus in India
are nervous. Amid what many see
as a rising tide of intolerance drummed up by Hindu fascist and nationalist
groups, most Muslims fear what a Modi-led government means for their community.
As one Muslim told the CNN, "For Muslims, Modi represents death." He
also means destruction. As the Prime Minister of India, will Modi now repeat
the crimes of Gujarat everywhere? Will he carry out BJP’s promise to build a
Hindu temple at the site of demolished Babri mosque in Ayodhya? Will he evict
Muslims, much like what the other fascist Hitler had done with the Jews of
Germany?

These anxieties are not merely a relic of the past. As
recently as September last year, more than 60 people were killed and tens of
thousands displaced in pogroms in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh
state. Most of the affected were Muslims. Modi’s bigotry-ridden and xenophobic
speeches in election campaigns have already resulted in the targeted massacre
of Muslims in Assam, bordering Bangladesh. Thousands of Muslims are without
homes now. During the
election campaign, Modi appeared alongside associates including a Gujarati politician
who made inflammatory speeches speaking of "revenge" for the 2002
riots and called on voters to reject parties with Muslim candidates. Modi
has also threatened to deport the so-called outsiders to Bangladesh.

Modi’s initial victory speech was self-referential. “Go on YouTube
and you will see young children who can barely say mummy or daddy say, “Ab ki
baar, Modi sarkar (this time around, Modi’s government).” As a leader of a
fascist party, humility is not in his dictionary. He is proud and rigid.

If the past is any way to judge the future trend, Modi is
sure to ruffle feathers further polarizing the divided nation. Indians through
their vote for BJP and its polarizing figure Modi have once again proven the
shallowness of secularism in India. Truly, they have never come to terms with
the true spirit of secularism. It is a sad commentary, but a hard fact!

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I have a long history of a peaceful activist in my effort towards improving human rights and creating a just and equitable world. I have written extensively in the arena of humanity, global politics, social conscience and human rights since 1980, many of which have appeared in newspapers, magazines, journals and the Internet. I have tirelessly championed the cause of the disadvantaged, the poor and the forgotten here in Americas and abroad. Commenting on my articles, others have said, "His meticulously researched essays and articles combined with real human dimensions on the plight of the displaced peoples of Rohingya in Myanmar, Chechnya, Bosnia, Kosovo and Palestine, and American Muslims in the post-9/11 era have made him a singular important intellectual offering a sane voice with counterpoints to the shrill threats of the oppressors and the powerful. He offers a fresh and insightful perspective on a whole generation of a misunderstood and displaced people with little or no voice of their own." I have authored 13 books, 10 of which are now available through the Amazon.com.